


Just to Reach You...

by candygramme



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: M/M, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:21:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27196414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candygramme/pseuds/candygramme
Summary: When Jensen was 7 years old, he saw a star on Christmas Eve with terrible consequences.  Now, he has to clean up the mess.
Relationships: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki
Comments: 13
Kudos: 147





	Just to Reach You...

**Author's Note:**

> My thanks to spoonlessone for beta, to Merenwen76 for the alpha read, and to fledhyris for the encouragement. The title artwork is by Merakieros. Thanks to her for making it gorgeously creepy.
> 
> Title from the Lyrics of "Come To My Window" and is a message to Jensen if only he were listening.  
>  _Nothing fills the blackness  
>  That has seeped into my chest  
> I need you in my blood  
> I am forsaking all the rest  
> Just to reach you  
> Just to reach you  
> Oh to reach you_

**12-24-1985**

Jensen loved his grandfather’s house. It was situated in the mountains just outside of Bethlehem, CT, and was a fantastic place for a seven year old to play in. For instance, it was full of interesting rooms, full of old things that his grandpa would tell him stories about. His favorite place was the huge, old fashioned library that smelled of leather and the lemon scented polish that his grandma used to keep the dark wood gleaming. One of the shelves had been designated Jensen’s own, and on it was an amazing encyclopedia in 20 volumes, which told him about space, about how to shoe a horse, or the land of China — in fact pretty much anything else he could think of. When it was raining, Jensen loved to sit at the big old walnut desk, reading about the countries he wanted to visit when he grew up, or how to grow the biggest pumpkin in the world for next year’s Halloween, while Loretta the cook would bring him milk and slabs of cake, or homemade cookies fresh from the oven. When it was sunny, Jensen would put on his cowboy suit and go out, building fortresses from the bales of hay in the barn and pretending to fight off Indians, or joining Josh to ride out on the pony his grandfather had bought for his use.

Jensen especially loved the lake that took up part of the grounds. He would splash around in it during the oppressive heat of August and slide recklessly on the ice in winter. He tried fishing in it too. His grandpa said there were lots of fish in the lake, but he’d never caught anything. 

So, he was overjoyed when his family decided to go and stay with his grandparents for Christmas. There was always company at the house, and neighbors would drop in to see his grandma, swap recipes and knitting patterns, and make a fuss of him. The house had been decorated for Christmas with vast wreaths of holly, ivy, spruce, and mistletoe. 

Mistletoe hung from doorways, and Jensen just about fell over laughing when one of the girls who helped his grandma caught Josh and planted a smacking kiss on his cheek, making Josh gag and yell about girls having cooties. He kept himself well away from that mistletoe, thank you! He wasn’t anxious to have any girls kissing him, thank you very much.

It was Christmas Eve, and Jensen was helping Grandpa to decorate the huge tree that Josh and his dad had brought in earlier. At seven years old, he couldn’t reach very high, but his Grandpa helped boost him up to place a spun glass angel at the very top of the tree. His mother had been sitting beside the fire with a cup of coffee keeping a watchful eye on Mack who was playing with a box of tinsel, but once she saw the angel properly installed, she rose to her feet and declared it to be time for bath and then bed.

Jensen was NOT tired. He was a big boy, and he really didn't want to go to bed yet, not while Josh was still allowed to stay downstairs and have fun at the party. He was seven now and that was seven and three quarters, thank you very much, so almost eight.

His protests were to no avail. His dad scooped him up and carried him, still protesting vociferously, up the grand staircase to the bedroom that was his while they stayed with his grandma and grandad.

"Come on, sport! You need your beauty sleep, or you'll get sick and won't enjoy tomorrow. Besides, Santa won't come ‘till you're asleep. You know that." His Dad was trying to be reasonable, even while he was stuffing Jensen into his Optimus Prime PJs and tucking him up under the amazingly warm comforter.

"But I wanted to be at the party," whined Jensen, allowing himself at last to be tucked in, kissed, and abandoned. He really wasn't tired, and it absolutely wasn't fair.

"Everybody will be going home in a few minutes, Jen. It's late, and they've all got things to do before tomorrow. Go to sleep now, and it'll be Christmas Day before you know it." 

With that, Dad closed the door and Jensen heard his footsteps pad away along the hall.

Jensen yawned — just a little — but only because he was clad in his pajamas and tucked into his bed, of course. He found himself wondering when Santa would arrive and what he would bring. He really hoped it would be a bike. He hoped he’d been good enough to qualify for a bike, but he wasn’t sure. He hoped nobody would tell Santa about him fighting with Josh, but he suspected that Santa had somehow heard anyway.

He waited for a few minutes and then sat up. He didn't for one minute believe that all the guests would be going home. He was going to check and make sure, and if they weren’t, he was going to have it out with his Dad tomorrow.

Hopping out of his bed he made his way over to the window, shivering a little at the cold linoleum under his toes but determined to catch his father out in an untruth. Heavy blue velvet curtains hung at the window, which overlooked the front of the house, and Jensen wriggled his way in behind them, wrapping one of them around him for warmth before scrubbing at the frosty window to clear it enough to see out.

There were stars, and the moon was just coming over the house, sending long, sprawling shadows over the lawn. Jensen watched Mr. and Mrs. Dennis leave the house to go back to their home with calls of “Merry Christmas” hanging in the air as they went.  
Moonlight soon silvered the paved driveway and set the frosty grass to sparkling like gems, a whole world made up of onyx and crystal. The trees that lined the place where the driveway met the road stretched their bare branches out to cast shadows like jagged fingers over the frost-glitter of the lawn. Beyond that he could see the lake, the rime of ice glowing like an opal under the silvery light.

He watched for a few minutes, thinking that he was chilled and should maybe go back to his bed, but then the porch light came on, the front door opened, and the rest of the visitors spilled out onto the driveway calling out season's greetings, merry Christmas and goodnight in a cheerful hubbub as they made their way to their car. In another few minutes they were away, the bright beams of their headlights carving the way through the darkness as they set off for home.

Soon all was as it had been, and Jensen, deprived of his grievance, felt that he might just go back to bed now, sleepy at last, but then, suddenly, he was wide awake again. There was a light traveling across the sky.

"Santa," he whispered, convinced that he was watching something forbidden.

The light grew closer, stronger, and Jensen was about to run for his bed so Santa wouldn't know he was watching, but then the unthinkable happened. He could feel something coming by the way the skin on his arms seemed to prickle. He could even hear it, a swooshing, fizzing noise, and as he watched, one star, much brighter than the others, seemed to detach itself from the sky and swing down in a graceful arc.

Santa and his sleigh hit the lake with a tinkling crash and disappeared into the lake. There was a hole in the ice showing the black of the water beneath, and no light to be seen. Jensen whimpered. Had Santa done that because he knew that Jensen was watching? Did that mean he was drowning, along with all his reindeer?

Jensen stood, horrified. Santa had crashed into the lake, he was sure of it, and there would be no bike for him. He started to cry, and when his dad appeared, having heard the noise, he didn’t put up any fight. His dad reassured him that Santa wasn’t there yet and although he knew that there wouldn’t be a bike for him, he allowed himself to be tucked back into his bed and after a while, he slept.

Weird, confusing dreams chased through Jensen’s head, and when he woke, he was heavy-eyed, still tired and not at all rested. Even the shiny new bicycle waiting for him beside the Christmas tree took a few minutes to filter through into his exhausted brain, and although he was overjoyed to have it, he worried about all the other children who wouldn’t be able to have presents, because Santa had crashed into the lake.

After opening their presents and eating breakfast, they all headed off to church, and it wasn’t until much later that Jensen was able to go down to the lake and see if he could rescue Santa’s sleigh. He knew that Santa was there in the lake. He could hear Santa in his mind, calling Jensen to come and help rescue him.

Josh had gone out with Dad to test drive a radio- controlled car that he'd received for Christmas, and Mom was busy with his little sister, so he went and found his rubber boots. As he got to the front door, his mom called to him.

"Jensen Ross, don't you dare go outside without your coat. You'll catch your death!"

Jensen was never sure how his mom could see through walls, but he went to pull the despised coat from out of the closet. "Got it, Mom," he called and scampered off, before she could decide he needed a scarf or a hat or something.

He decided that she was right. It was very cold, and the grass was still stiff and sparkling in the sunlight. It crunched as he stepped on it, and he whooped as he ran down to the edge of the lake and down the dock.

"I'm coming, Santa! I'll save you," he yelled, and ran onto the ice.

It may have been that shout that attracted his father's attention from the patio where he and Josh were currently engrossed in the operation of Josh's new car, but for whatever reason both of them looked up in time to see the ice crack under Jensen's feet.

~*0*~

Dad was already running, Josh close behind him, as Jensen began to disappear under the freezing black water and reached the edge of the lake just in time to catch hold of the hood of Jensen's jacket as his little body disappeared beneath the ice. Cold panic slicked Alan and made him shiver violently as he clung to the sodden fabric that was all that stood between safety and untimely death.

Jensen was silent, seemed perfectly happy to be sliding under the ice to drown, and Dad pulled hard in his efforts to save his son. The coat began to rip, and the wash of terror swept him as he fought desperately to save his son. Josh frantically helpin as much as he could, succeeded in grabbing Jensen’s hair, and finally, between them they managed to get hold of one of Jensen's arms and began a fight to rescue the little boy.

It seemed as though the lake was somehow sentient and determined to hang onto Jensen, who appeared to remain utterly motionless. It seemed like hours, but finally, slowly they began to draw the little boy back to terra firma. As they prevailed, something green could be seen wrapped around the boy's legs, something green that lashed and slithered just below the surface of the water.

When whatever it was that had hold of Jensen finally let go, all three of them tumbled back onto the wooden decking, shaking it and making the water below gurgle and smack as if it were living.

Gathering his soaking wet son in his arms, Dad ran for the warmth of the house with Josh alongside him, his expensive toy forgotten in the horrific moment. Later, he'd go back to retrieve it and find the controller lying on the grass where he'd dropped it, but for now he was scared for his brother.

"Dad," he said as they reached the house. "Jensen's lost his boots. Shall I go back and try to find them?"

"No. I think they were caught in that weed." Alan shuddered. Of course it was weed! What else could it be? He turned away to hide the terror he still felt. Josh could sense that Alan’s word was final, and he merely nodded. He wondered just what had really been holding onto his brother. He was sure that it hadn’t been just weed. It had looked like an eel, and he really wanted to see if he could catch one, but Jensen was more important right now, and there would always be tomorrow.

~*0*~

Jensen lay pale, his complexion tinged with blue. Between them, Alan and Donna Ackles stripped him of his sodden clothing, while her mother went running to find towels and warm blankets to wrap him in. He remained comatose, and it seemed as if he would never wake up, never be the happy little boy he had been.

After a while, they tucked him back into his bed with a hot water bottle, and Alan stayed to watch over him, while Donna went about packing up their things to return home. Christmas cheer was all but forgotten, and, although the food was perfectly cooked and delicious, the only one who seemed to enjoy it the way Christmas dinners should be enjoyed was baby Mackenzie, who was too young to know what was going on.

Josh was never able to go and hunt for eels, because, Donna Ackles, sick with worry for her middle child, decided that they would be going home the next day. Alan, equally worried about Jensen, remained by his bedside convinced that he could have done something more, been faster to reach him and sat waiting for him to come around and be his usual cheery self. It didn't happen. 

Dusk came and went, and Jensen remained in the same state as he had been. By 9pm it became obvious that he was just not going to awaken any time soon, and Alan was beginning to fear that he'd been too late, and that Jensen had sustained brain damage from his near drowning. 

By 10pm, exhausted with worry and crashing adrenaline, Alan was beginning to doze off. Suddenly, Jensen sat up, threw back the bedclothes, and hopped out of bed, making his way soundlessly towards the door of the room.

Jolted awake, Alan called out, "Hey, kiddo! Hold up. Where are you going?"

There was no reply, and Alan got up quickly to go after him as he left the bedroom.

Following Jensen down the stairs, it became clear that, if he let him, Jensen would be at the front door and out of the house in a matter of moments. Alan couldn't allow that, of course, and after a brief but fervent debate with himself about how safe it was to wake a sleepwalker, he grabbed hold of Jensen and picked him up, feeling the tension in his limbs as the little boy was thwarted in his attempt to take a midnight stroll.

Jensen's scream was loud, shrill enough to rattle Alan's eardrums and bring all the adults in the house running. "No! No! Let me go!" 

His son was fighting furiously, punching and kicking in his attempts to get away from his father's grip, and Alan wondered for a minute if he would be able to keep his hold on him. It took an awfully long time for Jensen to be calm again. Finally, when he'd lapsed back into his trance-like state, Alan decided that it was better to be safe than sorry, so after returning the little boy to his bed, he locked the bedroom door and pocketed the key before stretching out alongside his son for the rest of the night.

On December 26th, the Ackles family said goodbye to their grandparents and left the house to return to Richardson. For future Christmases, Grandma and Grandpa would visit Texas, but the Ackles family never went back to Connecticut.

~*0*~

**11-28-2007**

Vancouver was dull and overcast when Jensen Ackles finally landed at YVR after the Thanksgiving Break. That was fine. Vancouver was pretty close to being his second home. He'd been filming in this city for years, even before Supernatural had begun, and he'd seen his share of misery at times. All that was forgotten now with the work he was doing now.

He'd lucked out and found a show that he loved, working with people that he adored, and he was having the time of his life. There was only one cloud on his horizon, and that was the fact that the Screenwriters Guild were finally on strike, casting a cloud of uncertainty over production of virtually all episodic TV. They still had work to do, episodes to shoot, but there was definitely going to be a short season, and who knew if there would be a renewal and a Season Four? Who knew if the strike would be over?

He was going to have to enjoy what he had, while he had it, and stop wasting time on worrying about things that might never happen.

Descending the escalator into the immigration hall, he fumbled with his passport and customs card, got a welcoming smile from the immigration officer who was probably a fan of the show, and headed over to claim his suitcase.

Emerging from the customs area he made his way through to the arrivals area of the terminal, only to stop in his tracks as he heard a booming voice hailing him. Looking around, he felt his stomach give a little flip as he spotted the tall figure of his co-star standing beside the railings, wide grin on his face.

Truth be told, Jensen had committed the one sin he'd always told himself he would never do. He'd fallen for his co-star, and now just the sight of Jared, muffled up as he was in his puffy jacket and white beanie, was enough to cause his body to send pleasant shivers down his spine.

"Hey, man, what brought you here? Not that I'm not happy to see you, of course, but..."

"I just somehow knew that you were gonna be on this plane." Jared hugged him tightly, pounded his back a couple of times and then relieved him of his suitcase. "Come on. Got my truck just over the road, and a single malt with your name on it just waiting. Besides, Harley misses you."

Laughing softly, Jensen allowed Jared to lead him out of the airport and over to where the aforementioned truck stood waiting.

~*0*~

Later, unpacked and rested, he was with Jared in the gym in his new house, attempting to burn off some of the delicious calories he'd consumed during Thanksgiving, telling himself that he really hadn't put on six pounds around his midriff over the course of one week at home.

When he was fully clothed, Jared Padalecki had always given the impression of being kind of skinny, and he dressed for the most part in baggy stuff, hoodies and flappy jeans, and overshirts, which only added to the illusion that he was a tall, skinny weed of a guy. 

Watching Jared do lunges, a barbell full of weights on his shoulders, Jensen Ackles could see firsthand just how wrong that impression was. He watched the man, studying how the muscle and sinew strained as Jared focused on building them, saw the bulge of bicep beneath smooth brown skin and yearned.

Dressed in a tight white tank top and a pair of satin shorts, Jared’s body was on full display, sweat-shiny and focused. Jared's mobile face for once was not grinning as he stepped forward, dipped, rose, changed legs and repeated, the muscles in his thighs swelling with each rep. While he did so, Jensen, doing his fifth set of shoulder presses, gazed at him, eyes following every move of the beautifully ripped body, and still he wished he dared admit his feelings, even if it would disturb the status quo.

Coming to the end of his set, Jared hoisted the barbell off his shoulders and heaved it to the ground, heading over to where he’d left his sweats and his water bottle. 

“Your turn, Jen. Hop to it,” he called as he took a swig from the water and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Gotta keep that butt firm and those thighs strong enough to crack a maiden’s skull between ‘em.”

“Shut up!” Jensen was already on his feet, stepping up to trade places with Jared and shoulder the weights. His eyes followed Jared as he took the seat he had just vacated and began to press the bar over his head, almost frozen as he watched the play of muscle in chest and shoulders.

Jared seemed lost in his own world, concentrating on the exercise, and for once he was quiet, cat’s eyes drifting closed, cheeks flushed and chest rising and falling as he breathed in, lifted, exhaled and allowed the weight down to rest on the pads of his traps.

Belatedly, Jensen began to perform his lunges, feeling the burn, working himself hard, wanting to make Jared watch him the way he watched his co-star, wishing that Jared would become as turned on and lust crazed as he was. If ever there was something Jensen wanted, it was his co-star, this long, tall Texan child-man with the ready grin and the body to die for. It was at moments like this that Jensen couldn’t put the need away, couldn’t hide his own inappropriate desire from himself.

Their bodies worked, trading places, spotting each other as and when they needed, an intricate dance, graceful and powerful. Jensen couldn’t believe how swiftly the time passed, and then, suddenly it was warm-down time. Jensen really didn’t want the session to end, wanted to go on moving weights, watching Jared as muscle slid under satin skin. 

Jared joined him for their warm-down, and the two of them hit the treadmills, loping easily, Jared’s long legs flying, hair matted with sweat, bound back from his face by a bandana, fueled by the music from his iPod. Jensen had to run faster to keep up with him, just because his legs were shorter. He was always aware of the challenges his stockier body would give him, but he needed to have Jared as proud of him as he was of Jared.

Finally, dripping with sweat, the two of them were done and stumbled down looking for water. “Awesome workout,” grinned Jared, nudging his co-star with one pumped shoulder. “Lookin’ good, Jen.”

“It’ll do.” Jensen pursed his lips, studying Jared’s lean form, unable to keep the heat out of his eyes. Jared had his towel around his neck, and his throat and chest were sheened with sweat. He was drinking from his bottle of water, head tipped back and throat working as he swallowed. Jensen dropped his hands down to hide the embarrassing swelling at his groin and took it all in. His heart was thumping, and he was flustered, flushed, and wondering why this was suddenly happening to him. He knew that he really needed to push it away and forget about it. Co-stars — especially male co-stars — just did not make good love interests. There was way too much at stake for him to lose his head over a pair of slumberous, slanted eyes and a grin the width of the Grand Canyon.

“You going to bed now?" he asked, willing his voice to stay level. "They wanted me to tan for a while — said that I’m getting pale — but I’m thinking I’m going to hit the shower and then go get a little sleep. Man, I’m tired.” Jensen was trying hard to sound normal, failing miserably, sounding stilted even to himself. Jared gazed at him with a calculating look in his tip-tilted eyes and winked at him.

“I’m thinking hot tub, dude,” he announced, his beaming smile suddenly making an appearance. “Come on. Come with. You know you wanna.” Striding over to gather up his sweats, he slung the top around his shoulders and made for the door, leaving Jensen to follow him, moth to flame as always. Shrugging, Jensen only hoped that the hot tub wouldn’t give away his guilty secret.

The lateness of the hour gave Jensen pause, but the thought of going to his lonely bed and leaving Jared to lounge almost naked in a hot tub was more than one man could stand, and, besides, he loved hot tubs. The warmth of the pulsing jets against his newly worked muscles would feel so good. Shrugging, he grabbed for his own sweats and followed Jared into the back yard.

Running water, the sight of Jared, the long V of his back, the rounded globes of his ass, and the large, long-fingered hands sliding over his soapy skin, and Jensen had to turn his back, afraid that Jared would see the hard-on that was evidence of his desperate desire.

“I’m not gonna go too crazy,” murmured Jared, all unsuspecting as he stepped out from under the water and wrapped a towel around his lean waist before heading for the hot tub without looking back. Relieved, Jensen showered quickly, willing his importunate dick to settle down and then went to join his co-star in the warm, bubbling water.

~*0*~

The days following were full of almost feverish laughter. They were filming what was almost certain to become the mid-season finale, even though it wasn't the last episode that was awaiting filming, and they had several guest stars visiting. There was a lot of laughter, and Phil, the Director for that particular episode, seemed happy to let them have their fun, just so long as they got through the right number of pages by the end of the day.

Katie Cassidy, who had been brought in to play the demon Ruby, became Jared's sidekick, setting up anyone who might take Jared's fancy. Jensen had already had a talk with her about his and Jared's pact not to prank each other, so unfortunately Malik, playing the hapless Federal Agent Henricksen, was the one who suffered the most from the resulting fun and games. Jensen’s favorite was a musical extravaganza that involved Jared, Jensen, and the entire crew performing "I Shot the Sheriff," with kicks and twirls and crinoline petticoats.

It was the day before the episode would wrap for the holidays when Jensen was called into the production office. He wasn't sure why he was being summoned, but they had been a little wild that day, with the boot polish on the binoculars and the swirly they'd given Brad. So, it was with some trepidation that he presented himself at the office, expecting to be reamed out for some justly deserved transgression.

What he found as he stepped into Jason's office was something quite different. Jason was there, of course, as was Bob Singer, but they both headed for the door when Jensen arrived, leaving him with a third gentleman that he'd never seen before. Jensen blinked. Was this one of the CW suits come to chastise him for wasting their time?

The man was indeed wearing a suit, and he carried a slim briefcase that he clicked open as Jensen turned to face him.

"Mr. Ackles?" The man smiled and held out his hand. Jensen nodded as he shook it, one eyebrow raised in inquiry. 

"Yeah, that's me."

"Splendid, splendid!" So, it appeared that he wasn't going to be reprimanded today. Splendid indeed! "My name is Auguste Côté, and I am with the Summit Law Group of Litchfield, Connecticut. I am here with regard to your late grandfather's estate."

Frowning, Jensen tried to remember if his mom had told him about the death of his grandfather. For many years, his grandma and grandpa had come to visit him and his family at Christmas time, but it had been several years since their last visit. Of course, they were getting older and traveling wasn't as kind to the elderly, but he really hadn't known of grandpa's death. Emotion suddenly flooded him, and he sat down, shaking his head. 

"Grandpa's dead? When did it happen? Does my family know?"

"I had the unfortunate task of breaking the news to them when I visited them a few days ago in my attempt to establish your whereabouts." Côté shook his head, apparently profoundly moved. "Distressing indeed. However, I have to tell you that your grandfather died very peacefully in his sleep."

"I'll miss him." There seemed to be little else to say. He certainly wasn't going to break down and weep in front of this stranger. "Thanks for letting me know."

"Well, now, important as this is, it isn't the reason that I've come all this way to meet with you." The lawyer pulled a thick file out of his briefcase. "I'm here with respect to your grandfather's will."

"His will?" This was sounding ominous. Jensen remembered his grandpa in worn corduroy and tattered cardigans, teaching him how to tie a fly for catching trout, or bending over a fine piece of pine as he whittled a dog or a cat or a fish from the bare wood. He'd seriously never thought of him as wealthy in any way. A lump came to his throat as he thought of the old man leaving him a few dollars. "He left me something to remember him by?"

"He certainly did, young man. He left you a fine property just outside of Bethlehem in Connecticut, along with all of its contents. He says in his will that you were always the one that loved it best."

Jensen blinked. "Wait! Wait a minute. I've never even seen it. How could I be the one...?" he shook his head. He had no recollection of a property belonging to his grandpa. As far as he could recall he'd never even set foot in Connecticut.

"Well, be that as it may, you are now the owner, and while we haven't finished estimating its worth, I would say that the value of the estate exceeds three million dollars." Jensen thought that his eyes may have bugged out a little at the lawyer's words, because the man faltered, but soon continued smoothly, "The staff have all received honorariums, but we have, as your grandfather requested, continued to pay them their wages until such time as you can make decisions as to what to do with the property and its contents."

"What about Josh and Mack?" Jensen was flustered. He wasn't at all sure what to do with the sudden acquisition of a place he didn't know and didn't remember, and it seemed unfair that he be somehow singled out from his siblings.

"They have received what I can safely say are substantial bequests." Mr. Côté handed the folder he was holding over to Jensen, who took it automatically, still a little shellshocked. "Please let me know when you will be coming to supervise the winding up of the estate. I will look forward to seeing you there and introducing you to your staff. Here's my card. Just give me a call, and I will be happy to make arrangements for you. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. I'll show myself out."

And with that, he was gone, leaving Jensen sitting, clutching a large folder and staring into space, trying desperately to recall any inkling of this estate he had inherited.

~*0*~

Back on set, Jensen was distracted, and although he had tucked the unread folder into his trailer, he was unable to concentrate on his lines, until finally Phil demanded that he go and clear his head, and not come back until he was ready to work.

"Sorry. I've had a bit of a shock today," he said finally, and Jared, who had been messing around with one of the grips, raised his head at that point and came hurrying to Jensen's side.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I guess." Jensen swallowed. "I just learned that my grandfather passed away."

"Aww, jeez, man. I'm sorry." Jared hugged him, and Phil, who was still trying to decide why his most reliable actor was causing him problems, suddenly appeared contrite.

"Why didn't you say so? You need to take the rest of the day?" They were on time as far as shooting was concerned. There would be ample time to finish up the outstanding scene with Sam's exorcism the following day. A lot of the demon effects would be provided in post, and the only actual scenes left to shoot were those with Lilith. "Jared, take him home. Get a good night's sleep and be back on form tomorrow, okay?"

Somehow Katie and Malik had joined them at Jared's house, and the four of them had shared pizza and a twelve-pack while discussing Jensen's sudden inheritance. Jensen's conversation with his mother had been a little worrisome, but he still couldn't recall a thing about staying at the house. He finally decided that he should do as the lawyer had suggested and go see what he'd inherited and threw out an invitation in the hopes that Jared at least would join him. 

"You guys, why don't you come with me? We can have a blast over the holidays. What do you say?" 

"I'm in!" Jared was instantly enthusiastic, and Katie swiftly chimed in, saying that she was on board with the idea.

"Christmas in New England? Sounds awesome. There could even be snow. I'm usually lucky if the temperature drops down below 80 at Christmas."

They all turned to Malik, who held up his hands in mock defense. "Hey, don't look at me like that. I've got two little kids back home, and if I was gonna tell them to do Christmas without me... well, just let me say that there ain't nowhere on God's green earth that would be safe for me to hide."

"So, I guess I'll tell Mr. Côté that there will be three of us arriving. If we wrap on time, we'll be able to head out on December 11. Does that work out for you guys?" Jensen still hadn't opened the folder that Côté had given him. He was feeling disoriented and was waiting for he and Jared to be alone in their bubble once more. There was something nagging at him, making him uneasy, but he wasn't going to share with the group in case they decided that they didn't want to tag along with him.

After the other two had left for their hotels, and they were clearing away the debris of their impromptu get-together, Jared grabbed Jensen's arm.

"Okay, Ackles, what aren't you telling us?" Jared was giving him wide eyes and forehead crinkles. He was completely unable to resist that look, so he sighed and sat down.

"My mom says we used to go there all the time. Mostly summer, but sometimes Christmas too." Jensen frowned. "She said that she stopped us from going any more when I was seven, after I had some kind of seizure and nearly drowned in the lake." He laughed. "Apparently there's a lake. This must be some place!"

Jared's eyes reflected sympathy at his words. "Have you had anything like that happen again since you were seven?"

"Like a seizure?" Jensen shook his head. "Nope. Nothing like that. I'm healthy as a horse." He paused. "It's just that I ought to be able to remember something about the place if I loved it as much as everybody says I did."

"Hey! Don't worry too much about it." Jared grinned. "I'm sure it'll all come back to you once we get there. You'll see."

"I hope so." Jensen ran his hands through his hair. "I've still got this weird feeling about it." He frowned. "Hey, how’d you know I was feeling weird about it anyway?"

"Oh, come on! I can read you like a book!" Jared winked at him. "You think so loud that sometimes I swear I can hear you."

As the two of them took the trash out and made the place look vaguely respectable again, Jensen found himself hoping against hope that Jared's apparent ESP wasn't strong enough to fathom Jensen's feelings for his co-star. That would be certain to end in disaster for him.

~*0*~

_Jensen was lost. He was also more than a little confused. Just a few minutes ago he had been heading for his trailer for a half hour break in the filming while the scene was being relit. Now he was somehow on the edge of a lake that hadn’t been in any of the day’s scenes, and he couldn’t find his trailer, or the crew or indeed anything to do with the set._

_He couldn’t see very far because the pathway he was on was thickly lined with trees, and he decided that he would see what was around the bend, and if nothing familiar was there he would turn back. He was tired, and really hoped he’d still have time for a snooze before they called him back for the next scene._

_He was almost up to the bend in the pathway, when he heard Jared calling his name and stopped in his tracks._

_“Jared?”_

_“Yeah, Jen. Come on. I’ve been waiting for you.”_

_“Where are you?” he asked, looking around. The path appeared to stop short at what he’d thought was a bend, and there was a huge pile of boulders that had apparently fallen from a cliff behind the trees. Jensen could definitely see no way over them to whatever lay on the other side._

_“You’ll have to go around. Just step into the water. It isn’t deep.” Jared sounded sleepy too. “I’ll be waiting for you on the other side of the rocks. Come on.”_

_Sighing, Jensen reflected that he hadn’t envisioned getting his feet wet, but he wanted to get to Jared, so he bent to take off his shoes and socks and roll his pants legs up as high as they would go, and then stepped into the water._

_The cold was a shock, but so too was the depth of the water, and he found himself floundering, his feet didn’t touch the bottom. As he thrashed his arms in an attempt to stay afloat he felt something grab hold of his ankles, and then he was under water, desperate for air and failing to make it back to the surface …_

Something was shaking him, rocking him. He could hear a distant voice calling his name, and he woke soaked in sweat to find Jared at his bedside, shaking his shoulders and trying desperately to wake him up.

“Jensen! Come on! Snap out of it!”

“Jared?” he croaked, trying to orient himself as he shook off the remnants of the nightmare. “What…?

“You were dreaming. I heard you scream, and when I got here it sounded as if you were choking or something. I thought it would be a good idea to break you out of it before you had a seizure.” Jared sat down on the edge of Jensen’s bed. “You sounded pretty desperate.”

“God it was horrible. I was drowning I think….” Jensen shuddered. “Thank you.”

“You gonna be okay now? Best get some sleep. We’ve got a full day tomorrow.” Jared rubbed Jensen’s shoulder as he rose to his feet.

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” Indeed, the dream was already slipping away, going to wherever bad dreams go once they’re done. Jensen yawned. “Thanks again, Jay. Sorry I woke you.”  
“Goodnight, Jen.” Turning, Jared tiptoed away, leaving Jensen to fall back into mercifully dreamless sleep.

~*0*~

The day finally came. They'd had a really awesome time filming "Mystery Spot" with Richard and Jim, and the production had ended for the year with a Christmas party to remember. Jensen and some of the production team had improvised a band, and they'd had so much fun playing and singing that the hotel had actually pulled the plug on them in the end to get them all to go home. Katie had demonstrated that she had a better voice than her father and they were all very mellow as they headed home. They were due to fly out the following morning, and Richard was going to give them a ride to the airport on his way to his own flight, which would leave for L.A. a little later.

After much discussion, they had decided that they would spend two weeks in Connecticut and return on December 23rd so they could be home with their families for the Christmas celebration itself.

Jensen had done all the math and it seemed that the closest airport would be Hartford, via Chicago, and while he wasn't keen on a layover in Chicago it seemed that there was little alternative. They were all seasoned travelers, and he was sure that he would be able to get some quality sleep in during the flight. However, Jared had other ideas, and between him and Katie Jensen was as wide awake when they finally landed at Hartford as he had been when they had boarded.

A representative from the Summit Law Group awaited them as they deplaned and was ready to drive them the 40 or so miles to their destination. After 9 hours in the air, and a jump forward in time due to the change in zones, it was dark already, and Jensen finally fell asleep riding shotgun in the lawyer's very nice SUV. 

He awoke with a start, thinking that someone had called his name, to find that they were driving up a narrow road alongside a lake, and that the house he had come to see was visible in the distance. In an effort to avoid staring at the black water alongside which they were driving, he peered around into the back of the car, noticing that both Katie and Jared were dead to the world. _So, it wasn't either of them that called to me,_ he thought.

The lawyer, who had introduced himself as Aaron Sanders, gave him a sideways grin. "The house looks pretty impressive as you approach, doesn't it?'

Tearing his eyes from the sight of his two friends, Jensen looked forward to where the house stood. He had to admit that it was a beautiful sight. Light spilled from the windows and the porch to illuminate the circular drive with its border, and the green space beyond. To the right of the main door there was a raised brick patio, and light poured onto it from the French windows at the back. Jensen suddenly had a vision of Josh on that patio with some kind of toy, but the flashback was over too fast for him to hold onto it and try to extrapolate more. Turning to Sanders, he nodded. "It's amazing. It looks very welcoming."

As the car drew up beside the front porch, the front door was flung wide, and Auguste Côté hurried down the steps to meet them.

"Welcome, welcome. You must be exhausted after traveling all day." He ushered Jensen into the house, leaving Sanders to wake Jared and Katie. "I assume that the airline food didn't quite satisfy, so I took the liberty of ordering dinner for you as soon as you've had a chance to freshen up."

Their luggage was brought in, and the three of them were shown to their rooms with strict instructions to come back down for their meal as soon as possible, and Jensen soon found himself in an amazingly furnished bedroom with a roaring fire in the hearth and a four poster bed that was piled high with pillows and cushions. He was very tempted to forgo dinner and sink into what promised to be the most comfortable bed he'd ever experienced, but within a few minutes, there was a tap on the door and Jared bounced in, a mix of awe and excitement on his face.

"Dude! This place is like something from Pride and Prejudice. Can I be your butler once you move in? I do a great Lurch impression."

"That's who you reminded me of! I couldn't quite place it, but yeah." Jensen stretched, somewhat reinvigorated by Jared's enthusiasm. He grinned at Jared's mock-wounded expression and indicated the still open door. "Shall we? If I wait any longer, I'll be asleep."

Dinner was good — no, scratch that! Dinner was great — succulent steak with crisp salad and nugget potatoes. Even Katie, who ordinarily seemed to live on yoghurt and bee-pollen, finished her plate and went for seconds of the profiteroles that were dessert. 

"Mrs. Bateman, the housekeeper, will show you around in the morning as soon as you're ready. Just let her know your wishes." Auguste declined the coffee that was being offered and rose to his feet. "If you have any further needs while you're familiarizing yourself with the property, Aaron here will let me know. Until then..." with that, the lawyer left them, and moments later they saw his car's headlights shining through the French windows as he pulled away down the drive to head for home.

The moon had come up, and as Jensen gazed after Auguste's car, his eyes caught on the sparkle and shimmer of the lake. The lake made him twitchy for some reason. It was almost as if it wanted him. He could hear it in his mind, greeting him like a long lost friend, welcoming him home. It took Katie shaking his shoulder to break him out of his trance.

"Listen, Ackles, it's been good, but it won't be for much longer unless I get some beauty sleep. I'm a bitch when I'm tired." Laughing, she bent and kissed his ear, then straightened up to head for the hallway and presumably for her bed. Aaron, who was also going to be spending the night, took that as his cue to rise and make his excuses, leaving him alone with Jared, who was sipping a glass of port and looking like a contented cat after the meal they'd just eaten.

"Guess it's bedtime for me too," he murmured after a moment. 

"Yeah. It's about that time." Jared drained his glass and rose to his feet. "Who's on washing up duty?" he asked the lurking man who had served their meal.

"Don't worry about it, sir." The man smiled and began clearing away the dishes as Jared turned back to Jensen.

"Come on, Ackles. You don't look so hot with bags under your eyes." Jared took hold of his arm, and Jensen, whose eyes had been drawn back to the lake, jumped.

"Yeah. Let's get out of here before I turn into some kind of zombie." He gave Jared a smile that somehow felt stiff on his face, and Jared shot him a worried glance as the two of them made for the stairs.

Jared didn't say anything until they were at Jensen's door, and then paused. "What's wrong, Jen? Something's up. I can tell. What are you worrying about?"

Opening his door, Jensen gestured him inside. "I'm sorry. What makes you think I'm worried?"

"I can feel it rolling off you in waves." Jared gave him the wide eyed, forehead-crinkled look that Jensen knew for a fact he had developed to use on his mom and any other women who might need persuading into parting with that extra cookie. "Something's not right, and if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it has something to do with that lake out there, Am I right?"

Sighing, Jensen nodded. "Yeah. You're not wrong." He sighed and went to sit on the bed. "Something happened to me here, and I can't remember anything about it. Mom tells me I had a seizure and nearly drowned, but I think there's something more." He took a deep breath and hung his head. "Something's calling to me from that fucking lake. I don't know what it is, and I'm scared, Jared. Do you think I’m going nuts? People that hear voices are nutcases, aren’t they?"

"Yeah, well, you haven’t ever heard voices before, have you? You don’t seem to be any more nuts than usual, so let's start by staying away from the lake then, shall we?" Jared crossed over and took a seat beside him, sliding a comforting arm around his shoulders.

"Easy for you to say. Just, if I even let my mind go blank for a minute it starts to take me over. I don't... I don't suppose?" He paused, trying to gauge Jared's mood. "Would you stay here tonight? I mean here with me?"

Jared gave him a sideways hug, and then turned to deliver a smacking kiss to his cheek. "I will stay by your side and make sure that you don't deliver yourself to the Lady of the Lake, at least until Excalibur is part of the deal, okay?"

The smile that Jensen gave him spoke of both gratitude and relief. "I'm gonna take a pill. That should put me out, so if I end up speaking in tongues, or you have to wrestle me to the ground, you know it wasn't voluntary."

"Got it," smirked Jared. "I'll be waiting."

~*0*~

The following morning arrived without any unconscious wrestling or signs that Jensen was being controlled by some outside force. Jared, disgusting morning person that he was, woke up at the crack of dawn and went for a run. Meanwhile, a shave and a decent hot shower set Jensen up for appearing in company, and he trotted down the stairs to look for coffee and possibly food. Katie was down before him, and the two of them were greeted by Aaron, who showed them into the breakfast room.

Breakfast was laid out for them already, with chafing dishes full of bacon, sausage, eggs, and French toast. Katie sighed as she helped herself to a lavish portion of everything.

"I'm gonna have to let my jeans out at this rate," she mumbled, around a forkful of egg.

"Katie darling, you know I will still love you, even when you're fat." Jared, with his plate heaped high, skipped back out of the way as she aimed a fierce punch at his kidney. "No, seriously, why don't you come running with me tomorrow? It'll help work up an appetite."

"Looks like I don't need to work one up," she said. "But thanks. I'll run with you any time. Give me a holler in the morning when you're ready to go."

The two of them were sitting back with their coffee, contentedly discussing the house, when Jensen stumbled in to greet them, still damp from his shower. He was still sleepy-eyed and mumbled something that might have been 'morning' as he made for the coffee, grabbing the pot as well as a mug and moving over to sit at the table, yawning.

"Do you need food, my lord?" Jared rose to his feet and went to fill a plate for him, while Jensen emptied his cup and poured himself another.

Mrs. Bateman, the housekeeper, had bustled in as Jensen arrived, and gave a chuckle as she opened a cupboard to produce a large mug which she brought over to where Jensen was sitting.

"I can see you take after your grandfather in more ways than just the one," she said. "You might find this mug of his useful. Or we can rig up an intravenous line."

Jensen gazed up at her and blushed. "God, I'm sorry. I just..."

"He's not at his best in the morning," said Jared, placing a full plate beside him. "He'll be fine once the caffeine kicks in."

"I'd better go and make some more then," said Mrs. Bateman, seizing the empty pot from where Jensen had put it.

Once breakfast was over and done with, Mrs. Bateman took the three visitors on a tour of the house. There was a lot to see, with six bedrooms, five and a half baths, and a number of rooms on the ground floor that had been set aside for different purposes.

The antiques that formed the most part of the furnishings were beautifully maintained and Jared couldn't even begin to fathom the value of them. He was enjoying himself watching Jensen's reactions to everything. By the time they hit the library, he was completely overwhelmed by everything. "I don't understand," he said softly, sinking down into the leather upholstered chair beside his grandfather's desk. "Why would he leave all this to me? What about Josh and Mack?" he shook his head. "And why can't I remember it?"

Mrs. Bateman pointed out one of the lower shelves. "See right there. It's got your name on it. That's where you used to keep all your favorite books. Your grandpa kept them just how you left them. He was so proud of this house. I think he knew that you were the one who would take care of it and grow to love it the way he did."

“Mrs. Bateman, what can you tell us about the lake?” Jared gave here his puppy dog eyes. “Jensen is having premonitions about it, and we’re all hoping that he hasn’t just gone loopy.”

“Well…” She paused, obviously thinking. “I don’t know an awful lot about it. We did have a maid here, who was obsessed with it, and just walked into it one day and drowned herself, but she’d been jilted, poor thing, and it turned out that she had a baby on the way. You’d do best to talk to my husband. He does the grounds and he’ll likely give you chapter and verse about it.” She laughed. “Old fool loves a good gossip.”

"I need to remember," said Jensen, frowning. “I don’t know why I can’t.” 

"You will." Jared squeezed his shoulder. It'll come back, I bet. You weren't very old when you were last here."

"I guess." Pushing himself to his feet, he gave Mrs. Bateman a smile. "I'm sorry. You've done such a wonderful job of keeping everything perfect, and I can't remember a thing about it."

"I remember that day very well, it was a terrible thing that happened to you, especially on Christmas. We all thought that you were a goner." She patted his arm. "It was like a miracle when you started to breathe again. I think we'd all been holding our breaths along with you. Course, your mom wanted you to go to the hospital, and no shame in that, but you never did come back."

"Wait. You were here when it happened?" Jared leaned forward. 

"I was. I'd only started earlier in December. I was helping the cook with the Christmas dinner, but when Mr. Jensen was brought in, we all ran to get him blankets and hot water bottles. He was blue."

"Mr. Jensen? I like that." Jensen gave her a wink. "Is there a lot more to see? I'm starting to get a little overloaded."

"Just another couple of things. We saved the best for last," she said, leading the way out of the library to a small room that overlooked what seemed to be an orchard at the back of the house. "This was your grandma's," she said, revealing an old treadle sewing machine and shelves lined with silks, yarn, and a couple of mannequins clad in half-made garments. Katie perked up at that and started to wander around the room, looking in drawers and examining little scraps of embroidery. 

"Oh, goodness, Jensen," she said, eyes alight with fascination. "Can I stay in here and play? It's amazing."

"Be my guest." Jensen nodded. He was pretty sure that he wouldn't be doing any sewing or macramé or whatever in the near future.

Leaving Katie to poke through the projects, the others made their way down a corridor and out of the back door to a brick building that seemed separate from the house. 

"Now this was your grandpa's workshop. We were never allowed to go in it, so I can't really tell you too much about it, but he left clear instructions that you were to be given the key, so here it is, and with your permission, I'll get back to the kitchen." She pressed a keychain into Jensen's hand, gave him a smile, and then turned to head back into the house.

The keys were fairly mundane rather than the huge Gothic iron ones Jared had somehow expected to see. Jensen turned them over in his hand and then slipped them into his pocket. "If it's alright with you, Jay, I'd like to poke around the back yard here for a while, clear my head a bit before we explore any further surprises. Grandpa was big into fishing, so the shed here is likely to have all this fishing paraphernalia. He used to tie his own flies and that sort of thing. He showed me how to do it. I can do an excellent Copper John."

"Awesome." Jared began to walk with Jensen out through what appeared to be a kitchen garden and towards the orchard they'd seen from the sewing room window. "If you ever fall on hard times, you'll be able to add that to your resume."

Jensen chuckled as they wandered past rows of fruit trees, finally coming to a halt beside a stream that appeared to burble off around the house in the direction of the lake. "I wonder if there's trout in there," he murmured, and then appeared to go into a daydream.

He was standing very close to the bank of the stream, gazing down into it, and as Jared watched, several greyish green tendrils seemed to force themselves up through the grass around Jensen's feet. As the edge of the stream started to crumble, Jared hurled himself forward, yelling, "Jensen! Look out!"

Jensen didn't seem to move or even to hear him and had already begun to fall when Jared grabbed the back of his hoodie and hauled him away from the crumbling edge. The chunk of ground fell into the water with a splash, and the tendrils —whatever they were — seemed to creep over the torn edge of the bank, reaching for Jensen, winding themselves around one of his ankles.

"Jesus!" Jared yanked Jensen back and stomped down hard on one of them. With that, they appeared to retreat back into the water where they vanished from view, leaving Jared feeling slack-jawed and afraid.

"What are you doing?" Jensen shook Jared's hands off and stepped back, his face red and furious.

"Dude!" Jared pointed to where the riverbank had collapsed, finger trembling. "The tentacle thing... It nearly had you."

There was a thin smear of something greenish grey on the grass where Jared had stomped it, and he went over to pick it up. "You didn't even twitch. It was like you suddenly became a zombie. You didn't hear me when I yelled, and I nearly didn't make it in time."

"Oh, God!" Jensen looked very much as if he was about to vomit. "Let's... I'm sorry, man. Let's just go and... and check out grandpa's workshop, shall we?" He fumbled in his pocket and held up the keychain that Mrs. Bateman had given him.

The lock turned smoothly, and Jared was surprised to see that the workshop was a lot bigger than they'd expected. There was a huge workbench, and, of course, stacks of bits and pieces to do with fishing. There was a gun safe and several toolboxes. The item Jensen's grandfather had apparently been working on lay on the workbench, along with an envelope that was addressed to Jensen.

That was completely unexpected, and Jensen took it with a frown and dropped it into his pocket before picking up the long, metal tube that lay beside it.

"Looks like a rocket launcher. Why would grandpa want a rocket launcher?" he muttered before turning it end over end and then finally laying it back down.

Jared had been poking around and peering into tubs and drawers. Shaking his head, he came over to study the item Jensen had referred to. "Could come in handy if you want to blow something up," he said. "Dean Winchester would love it!" His belly gave out a sudden rumble, and Jensen laughed.

"Come on. Let's go in and see if there's anything to fill that aching void you've got going on!" Together the two of them left the workshop and headed for the kitchen to see what was happening for lunch or if they would need to make sandwiches.

They were just entering the main hallway when Aaron came in through the front door, looking flustered.

"Hey, man, I thought you were heading for home today," said Jensen as he reached them.

"I was," growled Aaron. "Unfortunately, there's been some kind of subsidence issue, and the driveway is no longer navigable. We're going to have to get a crew in to repair it. There's an eight-foot gap in the drive, and the lake has seeped into it. I can't get my car through."

"You're kidding me." Jensen looked worried, and Jared could see why.

"It's cut us off, hasn't it?" he said. Turning to Aaron he raised his eyebrows. "I don't suppose there's any other way out onto the main road?" he asked.

"I guess we could walk through the woodlands, but it extends for miles, so it's not really practical unless there's a dire emergency." Aaron looked furious. "Let me call Auguste and see what can be done. I guess I'm going to miss my daughter's birthday party, but I can face-time her." With that, he turned and went into the library to make his calls.

Katie was sitting in the window seat of the morning room, doing something complicated with a set of crochet hooks. "Hey, guys," she said, beaming at them. "Jensen, you have no idea what treasures your grandmother had squirreled away in that room. I want to come live here. Can I?"

"Looks like you may have to for a while at least. There's some sort of structural damage to the driveway. We can't get out of here, at least until we get someone in to fix it." Jensen took a seat beside her and peered at what she was doing. "That looks brutal. You could poke someone's eye out with that thing."

"Hey, don't you know how to crochet?" Jared grabbed one of the chairs and flipped it around so he could straddle it and sit facing them. "I thought you were a sailor."

"That's macramé, not crochet, and I know how to tie knots," was Jensen's somewhat grumpy response. "Besides, when did you learn to crochet?"

"My mom taught me when I was in the wolf cubs. You had to learn to knit as well to get badges." Jared beamed, then turned as one of the kitchen staff brought in a huge tray full of sandwiches. "Oh, my God, this place is awesome."

"Do you think it would make a good hotel?" Jensen asked, watching as Jared reached for one of the sandwiches. 

"I'd stay here — apart from the tentacle beast in the water," nodded Jared. "And we already know Katie's going to live here."

"Tentacle beast?" Katie's eyebrows rose almost to her hairline. "What are you driveling on about?"

"Oh, nothing to worry about. It's not after either of us. It only wants Jensen," said Jared with a grin, and with that, the two of them had to fill in what they knew about the lake so far, along with conjecture about what lurked within its depths."

~*0*~

The day passed well enough. Auguste and Aaron had arranged for a surveyor and an engineer to come look at the problem with the driveway the next day, although any repairs would depend on their findings. Nevertheless, the day passed without any further incident, and evening arrived quickly, the sun falling behind the trees in a welter of orange, red, purple, and rust.

As twilight set in, a mist began to rise from the lake, rolling across the lawn and up over the terrace to poke foggy fingers at the windows in the front of the house. Mrs. Bateman had drawn the heavy velvet curtains over the windows to shut it out and gone out through the orchard to the cottage she shared with her husband, the groundskeeper. Jensen had made an appointment to talk with him the following day.

Katie had gathered up her crochet and stretched, announcing that she would see Jared in the morning for their run, and headed off to her bed. Jensen had been sorting through his shelf in the library, trying to revive whatever memory might be lurking somewhere inside his subconscious. So far, he'd failed utterly to trigger any recollections, but he'd been well entertained by some of the material he'd enjoyed as a child. 

Jared, too, had been entranced by the array of books, and was currently leafing through the catalog, exclaiming now and again that he wanted to read something he'd discovered. Jensen figured he'd be busy for the next several months at this rate. By the time the big old grandfather clock chimed midnight, they were both yawning, not having realized that it was so late.

As they went up the stairs, Jared said, very matter-of-factly, "Not leaving you alone tonight, Jen. Not after the weirdness this morning."

"Thank you," said Jensen, sincerely. "I was going to ask. To be honest, I'm scared shitless about what I might do when I'm not even awake." He shuddered as he pushed his bedroom door open. Someone had set a fire for him again and drawn the drapes against the cold foggy night. The lamp beside his bed was sending out a warm, rosy glow, and the room looked really inviting. If he wasn't so scared of what might be out there, waiting for him, it would have been the perfect place to unwind. As it was, he clung to Jared like a kid with his favorite teddy bear and prayed that he wouldn't talk in his sleep and tell Jared just how much he loved him.

~*0*~

Despite the stress and misgivings, they both fell asleep quickly, and it was around 3am that Jared came awake very suddenly feeling that something was wrong. 

Jensen was fighting to get free from the arm that he had wrapped around him and had almost succeeded by the time Jared worked out just what was happening.

"Jensen? Jen?" He kept his voice soft, being unsure how to deal with a sleepwalker. There was no response, and he had to dive to put his arms around Jensen's waist and pull him back to the bed. 

Jensen didn't acknowledge his presence, didn't so much as open his eyes, he merely kept struggling for his freedom, until Jared finally decided, sleepwalking or not, he had to get Jensen out of this weird trance-like state. Grabbing hold of Jensen again just as he reached the door to the room, he picked him up bodily and carried him back to the bed, then body-slammed him down onto the mattress.

"Wake up, Jensen! I'm not kidding here!"

Jensen rolled to his knees on the bed. Jared joined him, grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard enough that his teeth clacked together audibly. At last, that was enough to bring Jensen out of his catatonia.

"Jared, what...?"

"Oh, thank God!" Jared wrapped his arms around Jensen, pulled him close, face anguished, breathless against his cheek as he pressed his mouth against Jensen's temple just for a second.

Jensen's breath was coming hard as if he'd been running for miles. He put his arms around Jared's waist, clung to him and pressed his face into the space between Jared's chin and his shoulder. Jared felt the scrape of Jensen's teeth over his collarbone, felt Jensen's hot breath against his neck.

"It happened, didn't it?" Jensen was still shivering, pulling Jared tight against his body.

"Hey, man, I got you. That's why I'm here, isn't it? I won't let you down, I promise." Jared pressed another kiss to Jensen's ear and at that Jensen raised his head, all mouth and cheekbones and dazed eyes as he gazed at Jared.

"Told you I'd take care of you, Jen. I promised." He pressed his fingers up over Jensen's back and into the prickly softness of Jensen's short hair, and felt Jensen reach up to pull their mouths together, soft, slow and wet. 

Jared felt Jensen shudder, heard the softly whispered, "Please?" and rolled the two of them back so that he was covering Jensen, rocking gently against him as the kiss gained intensity. Something rattled against the window, but neither man looked up as they devoured each other, hands roaming to find and map all their most sensitive places.

Their fingers tangled, hot and slick with juices, frantic as they each of them tried to climb inside the other.

"Jared," Jensen said, voice jagged with want, and it made Jared crazy, made him run his hands up the back of Jensen’s thighs and cup the hard muscle of Jensen’s ass in both hands. He was achingly hard, desperate suddenly, wanting everything now and Jensen made a noise that sounded like everything Jared was feeling. It seemed like Jared couldn't help himself, as if the firm muscle he was squeezing was addictive. Without even thinking he dipped his fingers in between, a soft brush that made Jensen clutch his shoulders harder.

"Jen?" It was hard to hold back, even for a second, but Jensen's response was instant, needy, breath hot against his neck.

"Please?" That word again, and it contained a whole world of meaning. The voice harsh, cracked and the word itself vibrated against his skin, sending shivers through him, and it suddenly dawned on him that he wouldn't be able to live without Jensen if he lost him.

He hadn't come prepared for sex, and there was no way they would be able to do anything other than touch just then. But he was so close, and this was so unexpected that as he moved against Jensen's body, he suddenly felt himself tipping over the edge, helpless to hold back. He felt like a trigger-happy teenager, could sense the blush that was rising up over his face, but he tipped Jensen's face up and kissed the lush lips, then smiled.

"God, I'm sorry, Jen. Hey, listen. We need to do this properly, and I don't have anything with me." His hand slid down to cup Jensen and pet his cock, and was rewarded as Jensen gasped and came, too, coating his hand with sticky, white fluid. For a moment, Jensen's muscles tightened, and then he went limp in Jared's arms, hiding his face. 

"But listen, I want to be with you. I want to make love to you and have you make love to me. I don't..." Jared choked off a sob. "I can't lose you. Not now. So, let's just think how we're going to get rid of this... this whatever it is."

Jensen struggled free from Jared's arms again, and Jared jumped up, afraid that the menace had him in thrall again, but this time, Jensen only went into the bathroom to clean himself up. Returning to the bedroom he picked up the sweatpants he had been wearing the previous day and pulled them on.

"Did you mean that?" Jensen asked, averting his face. "That you want to be with me?"

"I absolutely did." Jared gave him a hug. "So, we need to work out how to defeat this thing that's after your blood. I don't know about you, but I think sleep's done for me right now. What about you?"

"I don't think I dare go back to sleep right now," said Jensen. "You saved me. Thank you."

"Like I said, I don't ever want to lose you, Jen." Jared swatted Jensen's bottom as he made his way back to the bed and felt something in his back pocket. He suddenly remembered the scene in the workshop yesterday while Jensen was examining the rocket launcher contraption and wondering what on earth his grandfather had been going to do with it. "Hey, don't you think you should read that note your grandpa wrote? You've been carrying it around pretty much all day."

"Note?" Jensen fumbled in his back pocket, frowning, but his face cleared as he pulled the envelope out. "Oh, man! I forgot all about this thing. Too many weird and unpleasant things happening yesterday." The envelope hadn't been sealed, and Jensen merely untucked the flap to extract several folded sheets of paper.

Jared went to sit next to him as he began to read. "Okay, tell me I'm nosy. I just want to see if he's told you why he has a rocket launcher. Fly fishermen don't usually resort to dynamiting trout."

"That's okay." Jensen snuggled a little tighter against him to allow him to read what his grandfather had written and began to read the letter himself.

_Dear Jensen:_

_I'm hoping that I'm right and that you'll one day love this place again the way you used to, back when you were a little tyke that loved nothing more than to curl up in my study with your encyclopedia. This place has always been my home, and it's been in my family for years, even before I was born._

_Now I know that there's something standing in your way. Donna tried to protect you from it, but I don't think she realized just how important it is for you to kill it before it kills you. I've seen it. It's spoken to me, and I know what it wants, although not why. It's given me orders and issued ultimatums, but there's no way I'll let it rule my life, or yours._

_So, I've built you something that I believe will take care of it. Please find the specs for it attached to this note. The launcher is on my bench, and you'll find the missile to use with it in the bucket under the bench. It's heavy, because it contains a bunch of batteries, but once you set the timer, it should finally send the thing back to whatever hell it came from._

_Lots of love,_

_Grandpa  
_

The two men looked at each other for a moment, and then, as one, both moved to go and get dressed.

Making their way down the stairs and out to the workshop in the back, neither of them spoke, but once inside, Jensen said, "You're going to have to be the one that uses it, because the thing puts me into some kind of trance when it gets to me. I'll have to be the bait."

"Maybe." Jared gave him a smile and a wink. "I have an idea. Something I want to try before we settle on who does what." He chuckled. "Did you ever see the movie, 'Signs'?"

"I did not. Why?" Jensen looked puzzled.

"Come with me," said Jared, leading the way back through the house to the kitchen, where he proceeded to open cupboards and drawers, ransacking them until he finally found what he was looking for. "Okay," he said. "C'mon over here. Turn your back and close your eyes."

Yawning, Jensen did as he was bidden, and Jared went into action then. In no time at all, Jensen found himself wearing a hat made from the tinfoil Jared had unearthed. "There!" said Jared with a nod of satisfaction. "You look just like a Hershey's Kiss. Come on. Let's go show you to the beast and test it out."

He plucked Jensen's new headgear off his head, keeping a firm hold on Jensen's hand, and together they made for the front door, pulling it open. Much of the fog had gone, but there was still a layer that clung to the water of the lake, and Jensen gave a little gasp as the surface suddenly rippled. A dark shape broke the surface momentarily, then vanished back into the depths. Jensen began to walk forward.

"Jen?" There was no response, and Jared hoped that his tin hat solution was going to work, or he'd end up carrying Jensen bodily back into the house. Letting go of Jensen's hand, he reached forward to place his creation onto Jensen's head.

Jensen swung around to face him. "Did it work?"

"It did," he replied, and the beaming smile on Jensen's face made his heart suddenly thump out a sharp tattoo against his chest. "Maybe I stand a chance against this thing after all." He flung his arms around Jared and kissed him. "Let's get back inside, so I don't have to worry about losing my hat."

Once back inside their bedroom, Jared checked the clock. "Damn! I promised to go running with Katie. He swiftly changed into his running gear. "You gonna be okay for a half hour? Just keep the hat on." He was about to head out of the door, when second thoughts made him turn back around and root through his case for his hunting knife, slipping it into the pocket of his shorts. "Better safe than sorry," he said, bending to kiss Jensen, who was reading through the information his grandfather had left him.

"I'm good." Jensen smiled at him and blew him a kiss as he left to make his way to knock on Katie's door.

She was dressed and ready and answered immediately. "Hey, Jay? Jensen not going with us today?"

"Not today," said Jared. "Maybe tomorrow, but right now he's busy with something."

Laughing, Katie elbowed him in the ribs. "You mean he's sleeping!"

The two of them trotted down the staircase, out into the porch and began their stretches. Once they were ready, they set off to run around the house and as far as they could go into the woods behind it. Jared was impressed that he didn't really have to hold back in order for Katie to keep up, and once in a while she would sprint ahead of him laughing as she went, her long legs flying.

The woods soon became so choked with undergrowth and full of brambles that they had to turn back, and so they did, running back along the trail to the house and then down the driveway towards the main road. 

They could see that there was a truck parked up close to the end of the drive, and several men were clustered around what could only be the break in the driveway. Katie put on a sprint at that point, running up to find out just what was going on with the hole in the road. Jared let her run ahead, content to catch up with her at his own pace. He had almost reached her when he heard her scream.

Kicking his pace up a notch, he ran the last few yards, to see that a grey-green tentacle had emerged from the water that filled the breach in the driveway, had snaked around her ankle and was now pulling her inexorably closer to the water.

Grabbing hold of her, he pulled back, helping her resist, but found himself being hauled closer to the edge along with her. Suddenly recalling his precaution from earlier, he pulled his knife out of his pocket and flicked it open, then bent to hack at the tentacle.

There was a sound, the like of which he hoped never to hear again, and to their right, in the main body of the lake, something huge and slippery broke the surface of the lake for just a moment. Katie suddenly came free as her attacker disappeared below the water, and she fell backwards, knocking him down as well.

"Come on. We need Jen to be able to stop this nonsense," he said, tugging her to her feet. She gave a cry of pain as she attempted to stand on the ankle the creature had mauled, and it really seemed as if she wouldn't be running again any time soon. Her ankle appeared to have been crushed.

Wordlessly, he stooped, and she climbed onto his back so that he could carry her, and then began to run back to the house and possible safety. Charging back into the house caused something of an uproar. Mrs. Bateman came running from the kitchen to see what was happening as Jared laid Katie down on the couch in the main hall. Katie was whimpering softly, face twisted in agony as her ankle was jolted by the movement.

"We'll have to get rid of that thing in the lake before we can get you to a hospital, babe," he said, laying his hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture, just as Jensen came running from the workshop at the rear of the house.

"What the fuck...?" He stopped in the doorway as he took in the scene. "What happened?"

"Fucking tentacle grabbed her ankle, and I think it's broken." Jared wasn't sure what to do and was just running around in circles. Jensen finally stepped forward into the room. "First thing we need to do is immobilize the ankle," he said. "Mrs Bateman, do you have bandages handy? Also, I'll need something straight to act as a splint and a bag of ice, too. If you can rustle that up." As Jared kept on staring at him, he grinned. "What? You’re not the only one who was a boy scout, even though I never learned to knit. I had to learn first aid to get the badge."

The housekeeper had run off, and returned bearing a sizable first aid kit, which proved to contain bandages and other items of all kinds. "Jay, can you get her some Tylenol or something while I try and get her foot in the right position. Katie, babe, I'm sorry, but this is going to hurt."

He knelt beside her, carefully unlacing her running shoe and dropping it to the floor. Reaching for one of the bandages he began to bind it in place. Katie had groaned a little as he removed her shoe but seemed to have lost consciousness as he began to wrap it to keep it from moving. When one of the maids ran in with a bag full of ice, Jensen wrapped it around the injured limb and sat back on his heels.

"We need to get her to a hospital. I don’t think it's going to be possible for us to do that until we get rid of the fucking creature from the Black Lagoon, is it?" Jensen looked up at Jared, eyes fairly snapping with fury. "I can't deal with this anymore. Whatever it is, it's got to go. Dean Winchester would've offed it by now."

"You sure, Jen? It's your life that's at stake." Jared felt a stab of fear impale him at the thought of losing Jensen, best friend and now lover too. However, Jensen was right. It was time if ever they were going to tackle the thing. Katie needed to be in a hospital, and that just wasn't going to happen if this whatever-it-is continued to keep them corralled. At Jensen's firm nod, Jared rose to his feet. "Okay then. Let's do it. It's gonna work out just like we planned."

~*0*~

It was a typically grey December afternoon, dripping with moisture and promising rain before the end of the day. The sun was going down as the front door opened and Jensen emerged, closely followed by Jared, he hadn't bothered to put a coat on and stood gazing out at the lake wearing only his sweatpants and a hoodie. If he won, he could go back inside and warm himself, and if he lost — well he didn't plan on losing — but if he lost, what he was wearing wouldn't matter at all.

He was carrying the gizmo his grandfather had made, and as he strode across the gravel to the lawn, Jared followed closely.

It became obvious when the compulsion took hold of Jensen. His gait altered as he began to walk slowly down over the grass towards the dock, and Jared dogged his footsteps, allowing him to get maybe 10 feet from it before pulling him back.

Tentacles had begun to appear at the water's edge, twisting and writhing across the boards of the jetty towards the grass where Jensen stood. Jared, his heart in his mouth, jammed the tinfoil down over Jensen's head and prayed silently that it would work again this time.

It seemed to help in that Jensen stopped pulling forward and stood silently looking down at the approaching tentacles in apparent trepidation. It seemed for a minute as if he was hypnotized by them, and Jared breathed a sigh of relief when at last he raised his head and shouted, "What the fuck do you want?"

For a few moments there was silence. It was so quiet that even the crows that lived in the pines alongside the driveway weren't making a noise. Then, suddenly there was a sound that rattled Jared's teeth, and the waters began to heave and slosh over the jetty as the nameless thing Jensen had challenged began to rise from the depths. It was difficult to make out what the creature looked like. It seemed somehow blurred to Jared's eyes without any discernable features. It was grey-green, that was easy to see, but otherwise he couldn't have told you just what he was looking at.

It was enormous.

As it emerged from below the surface of the lake, Jared gasped, and Aaron, who had been sitting in the dining room eating his breakfast, came running out from the French windows and over the patio shouting hysterically. Jared for one didn't blame him.

As the creature reached the same height as the house, and the tentacles began to curl around Jensen's feet, Jared put his hand on Jensen's shoulder. "God, Jen! Do it! Do it now." and Jensen shook himself, raised the bazooka and fired the projectile inside it right into the monster.

The roaring scream that came from the beast seemed to go on forever. The tentacles had paused their marauding progress, but for a few moments nothing seemed to happen. Then, suddenly, the dull, grey day was brightened.

A nimbus of blue fire appeared around the creature. Blue sparks showed along the tentacles that were now writhing and shuddering, slowly contracting back into the water. The blurred edges of the thing began to shake, flames growing brighter until it was hard to look at them.

The lake too had taken on an astonishing, blue-green luminescence, and there were waves spreading out to lick at the shoreline as the monster began to submerge back into the depths. Just as it seemed that the creature would disappear, there was a rumbling sound. The ground shook, and the creature appeared to explode into fragments that disappeared into a fine mist, even as the lake water generated a tidal wave that rose above the bank and flowed across the lawn to soak both Jensen and Jared to their knees.

Turning to make their way back into the house, Jensen, who hadn't spoken a word since demanding to know what his nemesis wanted, turned pale, would have fallen if Jared hadn't grabbed hold of him, and checked out.

Scooping him up in his arms, Jared reflected that it was apparently his day for lugging his castmates around as he carried Jensen back into the house and set him down in one of the recliners that stood before the fire.

"What the hell...?" Aaron followed him in, a piece of toast still in his hand. 

"Don't even ask. I haven't a clue," said Jared, shaking his head. "Better out than in, though, wouldn't you say? Whatever it was seems to be gone now, I'm happy to report. Now we have to work on getting Katie to the hospital."

"Oh, yes." Aaron nodded. "I spoke with Auguste before that bomb or whatever it was went off, and he says that as a quick fix, they are going to make a temporary bridge out of steel for you. Should be in place within the hour."

A muffled sound from the direction of the easy chair announced Jensen's return to the land of the living, and Jared went back to kneel beside him.

"You okay?" he asked, still somewhat worried about his lover's very pale face.

"Yeah. I think so." Jensen smiled. "I feel pretty good apart from the soggy shoes. I guess I need to go and change." He pushed himself up and looked around himself. "You'll never guess what though."

"What?" Jared raised his eyebrows.

"I remember. I remember it all. I remember watching it fall into the lake." Jensen smiled as the memory flooded him. "I thought it was Santa, crashing. It’s weird. Almost like the creature erased my memory of it."

"Wow!" Jared grinned at him. "Glad you’re not brainwashed anymore. Better not be spying on Santa again either. We don't want more of those things hanging around."

"Guess not," smirked Jensen. "Still, I've decided what to do with this place," he said. "I'm going to talk to the Batemans and Auguste about turning the place into a high-end hotel and spa. I think it would be a great money maker."

"Great idea," nodded Jared. "I’d stay here in a flash if I needed to relax, but you’d better make sure that the lake gets cleaned out. Whatever that was, it’s going to be decaying for the next little while, and we probably need to make sure that thing didn’t have babies or anything. I think it’ll be a great success, just as long as there are no more tentacles."

The End


End file.
